


algorithm.

by orphan_account



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-13
Updated: 2019-02-13
Packaged: 2019-10-27 09:07:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,574
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17763902
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Their story is parallel, until it’s not.[16x13 Post-Ep, major plot-spoiler free, shameless shippy stuff!]





	algorithm.

**Author's Note:**

> If Truth or Consequences was the best episode of NCIS in 2009; they glo'd up so hard with that 10 years later, my people. 
> 
> This ep was so good. Too good, in fact. I suspect...
> 
> Just kidding, hope you all loved it; and don't forget to leave comments if you wanna! :)

Ellie is reading; seated cross-legged on the hardwood floor of her apartment; journals spread around her as the sun seemed to perk up; peeking out for a few spare seconds through a dreary overhang of gray clouds. She chewed thoughtfully on the pretzel hanging from the corner of her lip, licking up the salt crystals before she crunched it, satisfyingly between her teeth. Her headphones, or these stupid wireless...things that the people at the store had insisted were headphones, were in, blaring a reedy, fast folk song that she softly bobbed her head along to.

If Nick had to say what her element was; he would have chosen the scene before him. She looked purely herself, distilled into something beyond perfect that he couldn't keep himself from staring at just a moment too long.

She had noticed, her body cuing his presence before he stepped into her living room, and her eyes gazed up to meet him, a little wider than usual as she shook herself out of whatever state it was that Ellie got into when she truly got into the zone.

"Nick- um, hey- Just give me a second.", she said, sheepishly, her fingers suddenly scurrying to flip pages closed and shove slips of paper in between covers; as though she still had secrets to keep in front of him.

"You went back?", he asked, bending down to flick the cover of one of the journals closed. Nick shook his head, fighting the urge to roll his eyes just a little. He wasn't Gibbs; and he'd already proven to her that he wasn't going to rat her out to their boss, either. He wasn't McGee, either, and didn't know enough to care if reading Ziva David's case diaries were just a step too far in- what? Tarnishing the memories they had of her being someone who was flawless, and completely untouchable?

He'd known that joining Team Gibbs meant having to deal with a lot of things he wasn't used to in deep cover; office politics, a rank leadership and having to actually build permanent relationships with the people he had to see everyday at work, but somehow they'd forgotten to mention- or he'd stopped paying attention after signing the paperwork for good health insurance- that joining the team meant dealing with all of their weird touchy-feely family stuff, like they were a sitcom where everyone got too close but the jokes never landed as well as tugging on the heartstrings did.

It was weird.

They were weird.

"Yeah- I...last night, I just had to get some things back at her office and I guess I, well, as you can see, I couldn't resist.", Ellie said, sighing as she quieted her hands, shoving them into her lap as she let Nick keep tidying the mess around her.

"There's just so much here- some of this goes back to before-", she tapped lightly on the cover of a spiral-bound notebook which had clearly seen better days, "-I got married this year. That was such a long time ago. To think that all of these people are still out there somewhere, as living reminders of how much of herself she put into helping them is just- it's a lot, Nick."

"Yeah, I know."

He flipped open a folder Ellie had beside her, to reveal a newer looking booklet stapled to its front cover. "Hebrew for the Commoner; a guide to reading and writing like Israel's 'Jozef' Public"? Ellie- do not tell me you actually learned a new language just to read the first volume of the Ziva Encycopedia of Crime and Punishment."

"I wouldn't say I'm fluent- not yet, but actually she uses a lot of colloquialisms in her writing and so I've been using the internet to figure out the rest-"

"Oh, my God."

"Ziva had great handwriting. Almost perfect letter replication, which helps, too. I think I'll have better handle on it next week-"

"Okay- all I'm hearing right now is that we need to take you out of here and get a good latte and a couple of cinnamon buns in there.", he chuckled, gently squeezing her shoulder.

She made a tiny whining noise, as though she hated to be pulled away from her latest puzzle.

Now that the case was over, he wasn't as worried about her obsessing over something that could get her in deep where she didn't belong, and was more than happy to indulge her craving for a connection with the agent who it seemed had lit a fire in so many people before them.

"Fine- fine, but you're paying. And I get to study while you do that stupid thing with your phone-", she told him, grabbing the folder back as she stood to go get her coat.

-

They found a quiet coffeeshop not far from her apartment, and Nick happily took their orders to the counter while Ellie folded herself into a corner booth, burrowed into her jacket and happily flipping through her booklet.

"Jozef Public, what is that, Jewish Handy Manny?", Nick muttered to himself, as he waited for the barista to make their drinks. He had watched Ellie like a hawk since the night before, only reluctantly letting her climb out of their carpool after she had promised she would be there the next day for a coffee date. They had had way too many close calls, especially lately, and he would have hated for Ellie to go down for someone else who he didn't even know.

Sure, Ziva was great, probably- but this wasn't like Chen, if he had lost her he would have had to live with never really knowing the whole story, and Ellie would be a memory like Ziva was, someone who was only ever quietly whispered about and pointedly not mentioned around him. Someone who he would only ever get to know by what- flipping through the sketchbooks she buried in her apocalypse trailer park bunker?

He buried the thought, which still made him taste the bitterness of blood in his mouth just to consider- his world without Ellie in it, and only the ghosts of her in every corner, waving him over to tease at everything he had never bothered to know about her while she was still right in front of him, like-

"Okay, six cinnamon buns with extra cream cheese glaze, a roasted red pepper pretzel, one triple chocolate whipped cream latte with sprinkles, and a...large coffee with one sugar and two creams for Nick and Ellie? Is there a Nick or an Ellie here-"

"Yeah, man- that'll be me."

"Cool- let me just get you a tray."

Nick took their food and drinks back to the booth, where Ellie's eyebrows knit over what seemed to be a particularly challenging passage. He grinned, snapping his fingers gleefully before her face.

"Hey, earth to Bishop-", he joked in a sing-song voice. "Snacks have made landfall. I repeat, the food is warm, ready, and waiting for a certain little geek-"

She pouted a little as he slid into his seat.

”The next time we need something translated, you better not come to me, Nick.”, she teased, lightly slapping his hand away as she claimed her triple-decker latte. 

“Is that even still considered a coffee?”

”Mmhmm, it’s a drink of pure happiness.” 

Nick just shook his head. “More like a legal way to give people diabetes, but hey- how’s that coming? Think you and Ziva could, like have girl talk about me yet?” 

Ellie’s eyes widened for a moment. 

“Why- would we talk about you?” 

“You know, current events.”, he told her with a casual shrug. “Gotta keep a girl up on the available eye candy, right? Unless- I mean, would Kasie have been more her type?” 

“You’re a pig.”, she chuckled, shaking her head. “And Ziva- um, she was very committed to- to Tony, from the moment that they met, they had a connection that only got deeper after they got captured to rescue her in Somalia.” 

“Tony- Agent DiNozzo? Right?” 

Ellie nodded, looking slightly more wistful as she bit into the side of a cinnamon bun. 

“Tali’s father. They had a daughter together who Ziva couldn’t- I don’t know, I guess- she just thought they were in different parts of their lives, I guess. I thought Senior would have told you more about him?” 

“Didn’t really keep in touch after I gave up the apartment to the McGees.” 

“Oh- I just thought you would know a little more. He used to sit at your desk.”, said Ellie, sipping from her drink again. 

She spread her hands out over the folder, pressing down on a chart of letters in the Hebrew alphabet. 

“Mm- now just give me a second, I think I’m going to nail these characters down to this exact flavor of sprinkles-“ 

-

After Ellie had eaten herself happy, and Nick had managed to get buzzed enough on his daily dose of caffeine to keep up with her- they bustled out of the coffeeshop and back in to the blustery midwinter outside. 

Nicks hands were shoved deep in the pockets of his jacket, as Ellie shivered a little in her much thinner coat. 

Why they always made clothes for girls that seemed to be as pretty as they were useless he’d never know. 

“Ell-“, he offered, as he shook of his scarf to wrap it around her shoulders. 

“I’m fine, Nick-“

”Yeah, for now- but when you get sick you’re the worst to deal with, so I’m gonna save myself, thanks very much.” 

She glowered back at him, but seemed to readily cocoon herself into its’ warmth. He’d have to remind Lucia to add her to the family knitting list next Christmas. 

They ducked into a strip mall a couple blocks away; walking through its narrow halls and shaking themselves warmer as they did. 

“Hey, Ellie?” 

“Yeah?” 

“What you were saying about that guy back there who used to have my desk. Tony, DiNozzo, right? You guys worked together for a while, so? What was he like?”, he asked, as Ellie thumbed through a rack of t-shirts outside a boutique. 

“He was pretty funny. He uh- you know that thing that I have with food?” 

“You food associate?”, he supplied.

”Tony had a movie reference for everything! Everything! When I- When I got divorced, he asked me if it was The Parent Trap or The Odd Couple.” 

“What’d you say?” 

“Crazy, Stupid, Love.” 

Nick laughed out loud, causing Ellie to turn to him with a tiny smile on her face. 

“If you wanted to get to know him, he’s still on Twitter, no translation needed. Or I’m sure Senior could pass a message along.”, she quipped, dragging Nick over to a bench in the middle of the storefront hallways. 

“Just gotta make sure to maintain the legacy of the desk. We’re only as good as those who came before us, and clearly, I have to up my game as the comic relief.”

Ellie wrapped her arms around herself again, glancing out at the crowds of people bumping shoulders and shopping bags in the aisles. 

“He was a good guy. He was stupid and silly sometimes, but he stepped up when it mattered. For Tali, but for all of us, when we needed him he had our backs. Ziva said that- that she thought he slept around so much maybe because he couldn’t imagine that someone would ever step up for him like that when he needed it.” 

“Right...Ziva- why’d they never click? I mean, hot guy, hot girl? What was it- age difference?” 

“Rule 12, mostly. But it just never was the right time, and- I guess they wanted to wait until everything was right.” 

-

Several weeks later; and Ellie is wedged into the corner of her cubicle, willing the ground to swallow her up before she spontaneously combusted into a shower of human flesh and bacon brown sugar chips.

Nick and Gibbs had been going at it for what felt like hours; but was probably just several minutes- nearly screaming at each other in front of McGee’s display screen.

She wished she could say that they had been working on a case that had gotten under their skin; but the truth was, she and Nick had broken off from the rest of the team for a late lunch and managed to convince Jimmy to commandeer one of the basement conference rooms for a little bit of private time, away from their prying co-workers. Where, as their luck would have it, they were soon joined by Ducky and Gibbs, who walked in just in time to see Nick tenderly running kisses from Ellie’s collarbone to her lips; his arms wrapped securely around her as she melted into his kiss, moaning a little as he gently pulled her closer.

To say that it was embarrassing would have been true; but to say that it set off World War Three in the bullpen was a massive understatement. 

“-I’m not interested in how it started or some speech you want to give to her father, Torres. Rule 12, End of Story. This- whatever it it is over, starting now!”, Gibbs shouted. 

“No- it is not over now, because Rule 12, and Rule 15 or 17 or whatever are total B.S.! They only matter when you decide they do, and What is this, 8th Grade?”, Nick shot back, drawing a few curious glances from the other agents on the floor.

”Oh, fantastic.”, Gibbs scoffed, his voice lowering dangerously as he got closer to Nick. “So what’s your plan gonna be when you do whatever you want and you have someone depending on you for the rest of their life because of it?” 

“I’m not Tony.”, Nick seethed, glowering ar their boss. 

“You’re not Tony? Bull. Because if the two of you keep doing this? You’re gonna have consequences- and I sure as hell am not going to be the one who stands by you when that happens.”, Gibbs said, with a flat finality that shook Ellie to her core. With that, he stalked off up the catwalk, almost slamming healdlong into Jack, who quickly bustled him into her office. 

“Son of a bitch!”, Nick screamed, his frustration evident and he slammed his hands down on his desk, sending a metallic screech sounding through the bullpen. 

Ellie groaned inwardly, as she hurried over and reached her hand forward to clasp over his. 

“Nick- I- I’m sorry. I’ll go, and I’ll talk to him. Don’t worry about it.”, she murmured, rubbing soothing circles into the back of hand with her thumb. 

“Yes, I will worry about it- because- I love you, and I know that you- I know that what Gibbs thinks matters to you.” 

“Oh, you love me, hm?”, she whispered, a teasing edge to her soft voice. “That was fast.” 

“Not now, Ellie.”, he groaned as he turned back to face her. “What the hell are we gonna do?” 

He was surprised to see her grinning, as she glanced back at her desk, as if her still spinning empty chair was imparting some sort of wisdom. 

“I thought you knew that rules were meant to be broken.” 

“Wait, seriously?” 

Ellie nodded, tugging on his wrist as she led him towards the stairs to the catwalk. 

“Let’s go get fired together.” 

“Okay, I’m down for the together part but     like- he’s not seriously gonna fire us, right?-“

 

**Author's Note:**

> I left the ending a bit ambiguous, just in case you guys want more of this story, but also, to leave it a bit up in the air for anyone reading to decide for themselves. :)


End file.
